John Hart Movies
Broad-shouldered leading man John Hart was signed to a standard contract by Paramount in 1938. He appeared in a few "B"s like Tip-Off Girls (1938) and King of Alcatraz (1938) before his option was permitted to lapse. Returning to Hollywood after World War II, Hart worked as a journeyman actor in low-budget films: his biggest assignment of the late 1940s was the title role in the Columbia serial Jack Armstrong (1947). When Clayton Moore left the Lone Ranger TV series during a salary dispute in 1952, Hart was hired to play the Masked Rider of the Plains in 26 Ranger episodes. The replacement did not go unnoticed, and soon fans were demanding the return of Moore. Five years later, Hart co-starred with Lon Chaney Jr. in the Canadian-filmed syndicated TVer Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans. He spent the next two decades essaying small roles in films and TV shows and also worked prolifically as a voice-over artist. John Hart came back into the spotlight when the Wrather Corporation produced the 1981 theatrical feature Legend of the Lone Ranger; while Clayton Moore was once more on the "outs" with Wrather, the white-haired, virile Hart was available to play the key supporting role of Lucas Stryker (an inside joke: one of the principal writers of the Lone Ranger radio series was Fran Stryker). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker, The Color Purple spans the years 1909 to 1949, relating the life of Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), a Southern black woman virtually sold into a life of servitude to her brutal husband, sharecropper Albert (Danny Glover). Celie pours out her innermost thoughts in letter form to her sister Nettie (Akousa Busia), but Albert has been hiding the letters Nettie writes back, allowing Celie to assume that Nettie is dead. Finally, Celie finds a champion in the don't-take-no-guff Sofia (Oprah Winfrey), the wife of Glover's son from a previous marriage. Alas, Sofia is "humbled" when she is beaten into submission by angry whites. Later, Celie is able to forge a strong friendship with Albert's mistress Shug (Margaret Avery). Emboldened by this, Celie begins rifling through her husband's belongings and finds Nettie's letters. Able at last to stand up to her husband, Celie leaves him to search for a new life on her own. A major box-office hit, The Color Purple was nominated for eleven Oscars. The film was co-produced by Quincy Jones, who also wrote the score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, (more)
An orphan grows up to become an Old West legend as the story of the Lone Ranger comes to the big screen in this western saga featuring Christopher Lloyd and Jason Robards. Orphaned as a young boy, John Reid struck up a lifelong friendship with a loyal Indian boy named Tonto. Years later, Reid has become a lawyer and returned to the west in order to ensure that vicious murderers such as the Cavendish gang are brought to justice. Having previously murdered Reid's parents, the Cavendish gang proves that they still rule this lawless land when they launch an ambush that leaves the lawyer serious wounded and his Texas Ranger brother dead. Nursed back to health by his old friend Tonto, Reid dons a mask and sets out to pursue justice anonymously atop his faithful horse Silver. His timing couldn't be better, either, because the Cavendish gang is about to carry out their most ambitious misdeed to date by kidnapping President Ulysses S. Grant (Robards). Upon learning that the president has been abducted by the most violent gang in the Wild West, the Lone Ranger sets out to settle an old score while rescuing the man who will steer the fate of a nation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse, (more)
- 1980
In this holiday western an aging saddletramp discovers the spirit of Christmas when he must spend it with a widow and her family during the great blizzard of 1888. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- PG
Invisible Strangler tells the story of a boy who strangles his mother and while in a mental institution finds books which give him the key to making himself invisible. He then escapes from the hospital and goes on a murder spree, strangling his mother's friends in a series of unintentionally hilarious episodes, while they sit in their comfortable, expensive homes. The detective assigned to the case, Lt. Charles Barrett (Robert Foxworth) devises an unusual way to dispose of the killer. Sue Lyon, previously seen in Lolita, has a tiny role, as does Elke Somer. Originally shot in 1976 and titled The Astral Factor, this silly, obvious film sat on the shelf for 10 years before being released directly to video ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Foxworth, Stefanie Powers, (more)
- 1975
Marta Kristen, who once upon a time played Judy Robinson on TV's Lost in Space, joins former Dr. Kildare regular Kathy Kersh in The Gemini Affair. Though both look rather long in tooth, the ladies play a couple of young, star-struck lasses who yearn for fame and fortune. They decide that the shortest distance to their dreams is a straight line to Hollywood. You're way ahead of us: Marta and Kathy are in for several disillusionments and disappointments, mostly sexual in nature. Like the two stars, film veteran Anne Seymour seems to be slumming as she goes through the weary motions of The Gemini Affair. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marta Kristen, Kathy Kersh, (more)
Brilliant surgeon Dr. Frank N. Stein (John Hart) employs a new experimental technique on horribly-wounded Vietnam veteran EddieTurner (Joe De Sue), combining restorative surgery to his limbs with injections of altered DNA. Problems arise when Stein's assistant becomes insanely jealous of Ed's girlfriend and switches the DNA injections, resulting in Eddie's transformation into a lumbering monster with a cylindrical Afro and a fondness for attacking scantily-clad women and popping off people's heads like champagne corks. A poorly-conceived attempt to put a "blaxploitation" spin on another classic horror pantheon (in the mode of the far-superior Blacula released the previous year), this film emphasizes crude exploitation at the expense of creativity, leaving only a gory, misogynist mess. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
A bounty hunter holds dear the memory of his son who was killed by outlaws several years before. One day he kills a crook and then takes in his son, who swears vengeance upon his adopted father. This western chronicles their adventures together. The bounty hunter is happy with his new charge and so retires to resume his previous profession as a horse breeder. Things go well until the town sheriff is shot and the breeder's adopted son blames the crime upon him. But he is innocent and so rides out to prove it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Dana Wynter, (more)
The target audience for this supernatural thriller is never quite clear: the film's poster attempts a psychedelic look, as the ad copy touts "the black mass...the spells...the incantations...the curses...the ceremonial sex," and other ad copy says "He curses the Establishment." In the film, Andrew Prine plays a Los Angeles sewer-dwelling warlock who discovers that his magical talents are more powerful than he had imagined, leading him to power among a group of cult followers. The role of the Satanic cult leader is played by Ultra Violet, a celebrity in artist Andy Warhol's community. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew Prine, George Paulsin, (more)
- 1970
- PG
Have you ever longed for the day when James Brown, Martha Raye, and Col. Harland Sanders would appear in a movie together? Well, that's barely the tip of the improbable casting iceberg in this bizarre cold-war spoof. The leaders of the American intelligence organization the S.S.A. ("Super Secret Agency") are becoming increasingly alarmed by the disappearance of a number of B-list celebrities, who are being spirited off to Communist Albania. Eager to bring the fading stars back to the Land of the Free, the S.S.A. come up with a simple plan: They'll find four typical guys in their mid-twenties, have them form a rock group, make them into international stars, and wait until they get invited to play a gig in Albania, which will allow them to find out what's become of Rudy Vallee, Butterfly McQueen, and Huntz Hall, among others. Unemployed philosopher Michael A. Miller, Native-American honor student Ray Chippeway, phys-ed major Dennis Larden, and male model Lonny Stevens are drafted by the S.S.A., and after some intensive training by experts (Trini Lopez shows them a few guitar chords, and Richard Pryor gives them a crash course in soul), they become an overnight sensation as The Phynx (yes, it's pronounced "Finks"). Their album sells 17 million copies on the strength of songs like "What Is Your Sign?," and their groupies have to be cleared away by forklift. But fun and games have to go to the back burner when Albanian ruler Markevitch (George Tobias) and his wife, Ruby (Joan Blondell), invite the Phynx to perform at the behest of their son. Pat O'Brien, Xavier Cugat, Patty Andrews, and Dick Clark are just a few of the other notables who make cameo appearances in The Phynx, which had a very brief theatrical release before being sold to television in the early '70s. Legendary songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller penned the songs performed by The Phynx (and Stoller composed the background score), though for some reason they're not covered nearly as often as "Jailhouse Rock," "Hound Dog," or "Yakkety Yak." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Miller, Ray Chippeway, (more)
- 1967
In this drama set during the real life riots of the mid-1960s, an LA police sergeant attempts to service the Strip businessmen who object to the hippie youths that hang out, by setting a curfew. Unfortunately, the cop also believes that the kids have a right to be there, until he discovers that his estranged daughter, whom his drunken ex-wife took away from him, has come back to LA and has joined the counter-culture crowd. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aldo Ray, Mimsy Farmer, (more)
- 1966
In the wake of the Beatles' landmark film Help comes this campy movie featuring British pop-rockers Herman's Hermits. The story begins as the English cuties find themselves pursued by a NASA scientist while on a U.S. tour. The scientist is trying to determine whether the group should have a space capsule named after it. Meanwhile the lads find themselves mixed up with an ambitious starlet willing to stop at nothing, and of course there is one of their girlfriends around to complicate things. During the film's musical finale, the Hermits perform at the Rose Bowl and get their name upon the spacecraft. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Herman's Hermits, Peter Noone, (more)
- 1965
Acquitted for the murder of her husband Jameson (John Hart), Louise Selff (Marion Moses) hires Perry Mason (Perry Mason) to find the real killer--or at the very least, to locate Jameson's still-missing body. Things get really dicey for Louise when she starts having visions of her supposedly deceased spouse, culminating with a visitation by Jameson's "ghost", who advises Louise to invest heavily in a new laser process. Of course, it turns out that Jameson isn't dead at all--but he soon will be, and since "double jeopardy" doesn't apply here, Louise is again put on trial for murder! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
This is the second of two Season Eight episodes in which a "special guest attorney" takes over from Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), who is ostensibly in Europe on business. This time the substitute is Perry's lawyer pal Ken Kramer (Barry Sullivan), who is hired by Lona Upton (Kathie Browne) to bail out her "friend "Maxine Nichols (Nina Shipman). It seems that Maxine has swiped a necklace worth $50,000 from Lona's half-sister Amy (Bettye Ackerman), who in turn is the widow of a yachtsman who'd died several years earlier under suspicious circumstances. But Lona isn't as kind-hearted as she seems: she hopes that Maxine will provide her with the combination to Amy's safe. Instead, Maxine is murdered and Lona is charged with the crime, prompting Kramer to figure out if someone else might have had a motive to bump off the "thermal thief." This episode was removed from the Perry Mason syndication package prepared in 1966, and was not seen again until the mid-1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton -- then Hollywood's most bankable couple -- appeared onscreen together for the third time in this romantic drama shot on beautiful locations along the Big Sur region of the California coastline. Laura Edwards (Elizabeth Taylor) is a free-thinking artist and Bohemian who is raising a her teenage son, Danny (Morgan Mason), conceived out of wedlock, on her own. Laura has issues with conventional teaching methods, and prefers to educate Danny about both intellectual and ethical matters on her own. However, Danny has become something of a problem, and child welfare authorities demand that Danny either be sent to school or become a ward of the state. Rather than send Danny to public school, Laura arranges for him to attend a private academy run by Dr. Edward Hewitt (Richard Burton), an Episcopalian minister. Edward is at first shocked by Laura's embrace of free love and rejection of conventional moral codes, but as he gets to know her better, he finds himself increasingly attracted to her, despite the fact he has a wife, Claire (Eva Marie Saint), and two children. Before long, Edward's desire overpowers his scruples and he begins an affair with Laura. Wracked with guilt over his infidelity, Edward confesses his indiscretion to Claire, which proves to have severe and unexpected consequences. While saddled with poor reviews upon its initial release, The Sandpiper did win an Academy Award for Johnny Mandel's theme song, "The Shadow of Your Smile." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, (more)
Steve McQueen stars as the Cincinnati Kid, a crackerjack New Orleans stud poker player. Tired of chicken feed, the Kid decides to challenge The Man (Edward G. Robinson), the reigning poker champ, who is in town for a private game. The Shooter (Karl Malden), another gambling pro, arranges a game between the Kid and the Man, with the Shooter dealing. The game is compromised by the intervention of Slade (Rip Torn), an old foe of the Man's who tries to fix the outcome. The Kid finds out about this and tells Slade to get lost, preferring to win fair and square. The outcome is in the cagey hands of The Man, who is smart enough to do (as one reviewer put it) the wrong thing at the right time. The Cincinnati Kid was based on the novel by Richard Jessup. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, (more)
- 1965
The wife of a commercial artist risks her life to discover the truth about her husband after he is accused of killing a woman. She believes that he could have committed the crime and sets out to prove it after the police are unable to locate a corpus delicti. First she visits her husband's father, a shrink. Just after leaving, she runs into the "corpse" who is very much alive and out to kill her. Fortunately, the wife survives. Unfortunately, her father-in-law isn't so lucky, but before he dies, he recognizes the she-killer as someone he knows all to well. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In 1950, Maj. Jefferson Pike (James Garner), an Army intelligence agent who served with distinction in World War II, awakens in a hospital with severe amnesia. He isn't sure where he is, how he got there, or even who the woman at his side is, even though the doctor tells him that her name is Anna (Eva Marie Saint) and that she is his wife. The doctor instructs Pike to recall, in as much detail as possible, what he was doing before the accident that caused his traumatic memory loss. But the doctor isn't a doctor, Anna isn't Pike's wife, it isn't 1950, and he isn't in an American hospital. World War II is still very much in progress, and Pike is being duped in an elaborate scheme prepared by Maj. Walter Gerber (Rod Taylor), a German intelligence agent. Gerber is trying to trick a drugged and suggestible Pike into telling him everything he knows, as the injured soldier lies in a Bavarian military hospital after being taken prisoner. Will Pike be able to see through the cracks in Gerber's facade before he spills the beans that could mean death and defeat for American soldiers? 36 Hours was later remade for TV under the title Breaking Point. TV fans will want to keep an eye peeled for bit parts by James Doohan from Star Trek and John Banner from Hogan's Heroes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, (more)
- 1964
White settlers are protected by Hawkeye and his partner Chingachgook in this western. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1964
In this frontier adventure, Hawkeye and his sidekick must clear Ethan Allen's name after he is accused of treason. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Gregory Peck plays a benevolent God-like figure in a white smock as Captain Josiah Newman, the head of a psych-unit at a Southwestern army base during the waning days of World War II. Newman is a patriarchal protector to his patients, preferring to keep him in his ward, rather than return them to certain death on the battlefield. The matriarchal figure of the ward is Lieutenant Grace Blodgett (Jane Withers), but Newman is more interested in his assistant Lieutenant Francie Corum (Angie Dickinson), with whom he is having an affair. Further help is provided by human nature expert, Corp. Jackson Laibowitz (Tony Curtis), the orderly. And Newman needs all the help he can get. Particularly with three patients: Colonel Bliss (Eddie Albert) is suffering from a guilt complex from all the men he has sent to death; Corporal Tompkins (Bobby Darin, in an Academy Award-nominated performance), although decorated for bravery in combat, calls himself a coward for failing to save his pal from a burning plane; and Captain Winston (Robert Duvall) is guilt-ridden and has lapsed into catatonia because he had hidden for over a year in the basement of a building in Germany. Although Newman wants to cure these men of their psychological problems, he doesn't want to see them returned to the war to be killed. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, (more)
Inasmuch as the spectacular Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart Broadway musical Jumbo was written in 1935, this 1962 film version can't help but seem a little quaint. Still, the film features the original production's star Jimmy Durante, energetically recreating his stage role as circus owner Pop Wonder; it is Durante's bravura performance that saves the film from dullness. Threatened with foreclosure, Pop Wonder and his pretty daughter Kitty (Doris Day) put their fates in the hands of go-getter Sam Rawlins (Stephen Boyd). What they don't know is that Sam is the son of Pop's biggest rival (Dean Jagger), and he's been sent to undermine the Wonder Circus. It goes without saying that Sam turns the tables on his dad, thereby saving the day and winning Kitty's hand. Martha Raye shows up as Lulu, a fortune teller who can't figure out what's going to happen next (funny, we can). And of course there's Jumbo the elephant, who figures into the film's funniest scene (as well as one of Jimmy Durante's most celebrated punchlines). Old MGM musical hands Charles Walters and Busby Berkeley share directing chores, but somehow the film hasn't the panache of their earlier work. Happily, most of the Rodgers-Hart songs are retained, including "My Romance" and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World"-not to mention a few Rodgers-Hart tunes borrowed from other show, e.g. "This Can't Be Love". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doris Day, Stephen Boyd, (more)
- 1962
Wally (Tony Dow) is pressed into service as guide for Beaver (Jerry Mathers) and his friends during a weekend camping trip. This is not good news for Eddie (Ken Osmond) and Lumpy (Frank Bank), who have arranged for Wally to accompany them on a triple date. Thus, Eddie hatches a scheme to sneak up to the campsite and frighten the younger kids into scurrying back home. Like most of Eddie's best-laid plans, this one goes disastrously a-gley, thanks to the unexpected appearance of a humorless forest ranger (John Hart). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Osmond, Frank Bank, (more)
Having made a bundle on their 130-episode package of Mr. Magoo TV cartoons, the folks at UPA studios decided to star Magoo in a 60-minute musical version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. First telecast over the NBC network on December 18, 1962, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol deftly uses the device of depicting Magoo as a famous Broadway star, returning to the stage to essay the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge. This "framing" device has, unfortunately, been eliminated from currently available TV and video versions of this hour-long animated special. Still, Magoo has plenty of time to shine as Scrooge, a role ideally suited for the character's crotchety demeanor and comic nearsightedness. The five original songs by Jules Styne and Bob Merrill are wonderful-far more so than the disposable score of the 1970 live-action Christmas Carol musical adaptation Scrooge. The principal voices are provided by Jim Backus as Magoo, Jack Cassidy as Bob Cratchit, Royal Dano as Marley's Ghost, and Joan Gardner, Morey Amsterdam and Paul Frees. Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol served as the pilot for the 1964 animated anthology series The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo, wherein Magoo essayed such literary roles as Friar Tuck, Gunga Din, and all seven of Snow White's dwarves. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Jim Davis was light-years away from his role as Larry Hagman's dad on Dallas when he starred in Noose for a Gunman. In this 1960 B oater, Davis is a gunslinger who is appointed town marshal to clean out the criminal element. It isn't long before Davis is kicked out of town on a trumped-up murder rap. The real villain is cattle baron Barton MacLane, who exercises his usual prerogative of shouting all his lines. Noose for a Gunman was a Premium Production (an inaptly-named firm), released through United Artists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Davis, Lyn Thomas, (more)
This is a routine Disney comedy-fantasy about a boy who turns into a large sheep dog at the most inopportune moments. That is assuming there would be opportune moments. Young Wilby Daniels (Tommy Kirk) finds a magic ring that used to belong to the Borgia family. When he pronounces an inscription on the ring, he is suddenly able to transform himself into a shaggy dog -- though he has no control over when this is going to happen. To his dismay, the girl he likes gets involved without knowing who the dog really is. At the same time, the only way Wilby can break the spell is to perform some virtuous deed. Fortunately for him, a few Soviet spies are just hanging around, waiting to be uncovered by a canine. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred MacMurray, Jean Hagen, (more)
